


ALL I DO IS WIN, WIN, WIN

by Misfit_McCoward



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: Crack Treated Seriously, Friendship, Gen, Humor, Yu-Gi-Oh! Big Bang 2018
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-25
Updated: 2018-08-25
Packaged: 2019-07-02 12:57:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15796992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Misfit_McCoward/pseuds/Misfit_McCoward
Summary: Yuugi loses the final duel against Atem. Now Atem must haunt the puzzle eternally... or find someone to beat him at a game. Literally any game. This is harder than it sounds, but luckily all his friends are happy to help.





	ALL I DO IS WIN, WIN, WIN

**Author's Note:**

> For Yu-Gi-Oh! Big Bang 2018. My artist partner is tipsytennant29!!
> 
> This fic uses a fusion of manga and anime canon. There's some notes at the end about references to games that the average reader might not recognize immediately.

  
([art](http://tipsytennant29.tumblr.com/post/177497590679/hiya-posting-my-piece-for-ygo-big-bang-2018-its) by [tipsytennant29](http://tipsytennant29.tumblr.com))

There was a lot of light, because of course there was, and when it was all over, the pharaoh was still there. The stone tablet stood between them, as unmoving and ominous as ever.

 

Yuugi had lost. 

 

The pharaoh blinked back at him, glanced down at his duel disk, and then back up with a sort of pinched look on his face. 

 

“Well, this is awkward,” Honda observed. He was not incorrect. 

 

“So… now what?” Anzu asked. 

 

Yuugi and Atem exchanged glances. That was a very good question. 

 

They found the Ishtars on the stairs back at the entrance of the tomb, with Malik rubbing Ryou’s back as Ryou gulped down water. All four of them looked up in interest when Yuugi’s group approached. 

 

“I, er,” Yuugi said sheepishly, “lost.”

 

“Oh,” said Ishizu, and it sounded just short of disappointment. “So the pharaoh is still with us?”

 

Yuugi glanced over to his left, where Atem was standing at his side, arms crossed and anxious. Yuugi was not sure if his best friend still being alive was a good thing or a bad thing. 

 

“Maybe you can just try again,” Malik suggested. “Nothing says the game has to be Duel Monsters. Here.”

 

Malik stood and dropped a coin into Yuugi’s hand. Jounouchi leaned over his shoulder to squint at it uncertainly. 

 

“Are you suggesting a coin toss?” Jounouchi asked, wrinkling his nose. 

 

Malik shrugged. “Why not?”

 

“It would be wise to hurry,” Rishid warned. “There is a time limit for how long the door can be opened.”

 

“We must do it, then,” Atem said, and Yuugi turned to him with a brave face. If this was the puzzle spirit’s only chance to pass on, then he had to take it, and the only way to open the door to the afterlife was for Yuugi to beat him in a ceremonial game. 

 

It sucked, but it had to be done. 

 

“Heads or tails?” Yuugi asked, resigned. Atem inclined his head.

 

“Heads.” 

 

Yuugi lost. And he lost. And he lost. It was really statistically improbable how many times he lost. Their math teacher would be having a fit.

 

“Give it here,” Kaiba eventually snapped, marching forward and pushing Jounouchi aside to snatch the coin from Yuugi’s hand. “Yuugi, you call it.”

 

“H-heads?” Yuugi hedged. Kaiba flipped the coin.

 

Tails. 

 

Kaiba snarled and threw the coin back at Malik. He produced another one from his own pocket and they repeated the game twelve more times. Kaiba switched out the coin twice more. 

 

“...right, okay,” Malik said eventually. “This is getting ridiculous. There’s something wrong.”

 

“Malik,” Ishizu said evenly, and Malik sighed and removed his shirt so Ishizu and Rishid could consult the tattoos on his back. They hovered over it, murmuring to each other in Arabic for several minutes. 

 

Eventually, they concluded it doesn’t necessarily have to be  _ Yuugi  _ who played the ceremonial game. 

 

“Aight,” Jounouchi announced and elbowed Kaiba out of the way to wave a ¥100 coin under Yuugi’s nose. Kaiba snorted in disgust. “Hey Pharaoh, heads I win, tails you lose.”

 

Jounouchi flipped the coin too high, then went to grab it out of the air and missed. It fell to the stone-tiled floor and landed perfectly on its side. 

 

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Anzu said. 

 

Their high school math teacher would wet his pants of the improbability of it all. 

 

\--

 

An hour later, most of the group had resigned themselves to sitting on the floor and the steps out of the tomb. The only ones left standing were Atem in Yuugi’s body, Kaiba looking increasingly furious, and Jounouchi. 

 

“I don’t think we’re allowed to cheat,” Jounouchi said, frowning at the coin in his hands. 

 

“It’s not cheating,” Kaiba said through gritted teeth, “you’re just not accustomed to winning strategies.”

 

“Feels an awful lot like cheating.”

 

“I don’t mind,” Atem interrupted. He had his own coin now, procured from Yuugi’s pocket. It was a novelty recreation of a tabletop game’s coinage, because his partner had his priorities straight and carried random gaming items in his pockets. 

 

Atem was also starting to look frustrated with playing coin toss over and over. He kept  _ winning. _ Even beating his opponents in fair play was losing its pleasure. 

 

“Call it,” growled Kaiba, who was also taking no pleasure from losing every single time. He was getting increasingly hostile over flipping coins.

 

The new game was “2-vs-1 coin toss,” where Atem had to beat two people at once. Jounouchi and Kaiba– after arguing for several minutes over who got heads– were making two different calls, and Atem had to beat them both. Since it was physically impossible to get both tails  _ and _ heads, there was no way he could win. They had even explicitly stated the rules as “Atem must get both a heads and a tails on the game coin to win.” 

 

It was a guarantee. 

 

“Hey,” Anzu whispered to Honda. “Didn’t Other Yu– Atem once win a dice game because the die split in two and the roll was technically a seven?”

 

“Don’t jinx it,” Honda whispered back. 

 

“Tails,” Atem declared.

 

“Team tails!” Jounouchi cheered and Kaiba fumed. 

 

_ You’re so petty, _ Yuugi observed. 

 

_ You like it, _ Atem answered and flipped the coin into the air. 

 

At that very moment, Ryou reached into his pocket to find a tissue. The coin flew into the air and Malik, still seated next to Ryou, sneezed and hit his friend’s arm with his elbow. As the coin reached the peak of its parabola, Ryou’s arm jerked and sent the contents of his pocket scattering across the floor of tomb. 

 

The coin started its descent. Atem turned to see what all the commotion was. Several cough drops rolled by, as well as a handful of coins. Distracted, Atem failed to catch his own coin, which hit the ground just in time to collide with one of the escaped coins from Ryou’s pocket.

 

Ryou, who also liked tabletop games. 

 

Ryou, who collected gaming knick knacks. 

 

Ryou, whose evil half had specifically come here to play a tabletop RPG. 

 

“Aw man,” Jounouchi whined. 

 

Two identical game coins stared up at Atem, mocking him. One was heads and one was tails.

 

“That’s it,” Kaiba announced. “I’m done with magic. I’m leaving. See you losers never.”

 

He stomped up the stairs out out of the tomb, not even slowing as Ryou had to throw himself out of the way to avoid being stepped on. 

 

“Um,” said Ryou, “terribly sorry about that.”

 

“Wasn’t he your ride?” Malik asked. 

 

He was. Yuugi yelped and shoved Atem’s consciousness out of the way so he could chase after him. 

 

\--

 

Kaiba refused to speak to them, but right before he and his brother flew off in a private jet shaped– true to Kaiba’s mania– like the Blue Eyes White Dragon, Mokuba informed them rooms were booked at a fancy hotel in Cairo, if they could get there. 

 

It was unclear if the rooms were Mokuba taking pity of them or a weird show of friendship from Kaiba. Either way, they all ended up squished in the back of the Ishtar’s truck. Ishizu drove. 

 

“We’re not sure how long the door to the afterlife will be accessible,” Rishid said from the front seat. “But we think that, if it isn’t already sealed, you might have a few days. Weeks, maybe.”

 

“You shouldn’t screw around though,” Malik said from where he was very neatly squished between Honda, the door, and part of Yuugi’s bottom. “Like go to school, maybe, but don’t do your homework.”

 

“Oh crap,” Jounouchi said from under Yuugi’s grandfather. He sounded strained. “I forgot. We have an English essay due on Monday.”

 

“That was due  _ last _ Monday,” Anzu chided, seated awkwardly in Ryou’s lap. 

 

“Um,” Ryou piped up as Anzu and Jounouchi started to bicker. “No offense, but, um. If the puzzle spirit is still here, then what about… Uh…”

 

There was a very long silence. Anzu scooted forward in his lap slightly. 

 

“Malik will stay with you,” Ishizu decided. “He has a legal passport now.”

 

“That’s fine,” said Malik, who sounded like his was perhaps experiencing a collapsed lung. 

 

It took hours to get to the hotel, in part because of city traffic. Ishizu had a very odd form of road rage where instead of yelling, she stared down other cars with an intensity never before seen in human eyes. 

 

“Enjoy your stay,” she said tensely to them at the hotel drop-off right before driving away. It was weirdly terrifying. 

 

\--

 

It was unclear if it was actually cheaper to put a large number of travelers in couch than to let them on one’s private jet, or if Kaiba was just that petty. Either way, they spent the morning downloading as many multi-player mobile games as they could to play on the plane. 

 

“What do you mean you’ve never been on a flight this long?” Anzu asked Malik, peering suspiciously at him over her airport coffee. “How did you get to Japan in the first place?”

 

“I took a boat,” Malik said with a shrug. 

 

“Why?” Jounouchi demanded, looking up from being trounced by Atem in QWOP. “Who just takes a boat anywhere?”

 

“It’s–” Malik rubbed his temples. He’d slept in the chair of Ryou’s room and had therefore slept poorly. “It’s easier to, uh. Smuggle stuff.”

 

Jounouchi’s eyebrows shot up. Malik held his stare. It wasn’t like they didn’t  _ know _ . 

 

“I think our flight is boarding,” Ryou announced, and they gathered their things to move over to the terminal. 

 

Malik had bought his ticket last minute– with money no one cared to asked how he had obtained– and had been forced to buy business class as a result. Sugoroku took his ticket. 

 

“For my back, you know,” Sugoroku had said. 

 

Malik had just blinked dully back at him. He was supposed to be nice.  _ He was supposed to be nice. _

 

“Jounouchi, you can’t just copy the emergency landing instructions for your essay,” Anzu hissed when they boarded. 

 

“Why not?” Jounouchi asked. “My last English essay wasn’t even in English.”

 

Anzu made a very big show of smacking her forehead. 

 

When the flight took off, Malik immediately put on his airline-distributed eye mask and went to sleep. Yuugi had the distinct impression the poor guy was already sick of them. 

 

Ryou produced a book from his backpack, Anzu and Jounouchi argued about irregular plurals (“I promise you, Jounouchi, you cannot write ‘childs’–”), and Honda took over the ongoing game of Beat Atem At Literally Anything. This time it was mobile Scrabble.

 

Eventually, though, Yuugi also wanted a nap and the entire group lulled into silence. The entire experience had been exhausting, and they hadn’t even completely finished their task. Jounouchi snored quietly as he gripped his essay in his hands. 

 

Yuugi dozed on and off for hours, briefly waking to accept a water bottle from a flight attendant. He stuck it in the seatback pocket and tried to go back to sleep. 

 

_ Hey, _ Atem said, mentally poking him.  _ Are you okay with this? _

 

_ Huh? _ Yuugi thought back groggily. _ With water? _

 

_ No,  _ Atem answered.  _ With, you know… death. If I die on the plane, will you be okay? _

 

Yuugi thought about it for a moment. His mental partner of several years suddenly disappearing on a long-haul flight did seem pretty bad. But there wasn’t exactly a good place for that to happen, and he told Atem as much. 

 

_ Ah, _ Atem said, then went quiet for a few minutes.  _ But, _ he spoke up just as Yuugi was falling back asleep,  _ will you be okay without me? _

 

He sounded worried. Yuugi felt something tug inside his chest. Atem had been his guardian spirit since he was a freshman in high school and life without him would be very different. But, on the other hand, Yuugi himself was already very different from freshmen year. He could handle bullies and mean teachers and whatever life threw at him on his own now. 

 

_ Yes,  _ Yuugi answered.  _ I’ll be sad, of course, but I’ll be okay.  _

 

Atem seemed to find that answer satisfactory and went silent again. Tentatively, Yuugi asked,  _ Are  _ you _ okay? With dying, I mean.  _

 

_ I’m already dead, _ Atem said.  _ I’m just moving on.  _

 

Yuugi shifted uncomfortably. Next to him, Jounouchi slumped further into his seat. 

 

_ You’re not scared?  _ Yuugi asked.  _ You want this? _

 

_ I…  _ The spirit trailed off, thoughtful. _ I was before, _ he said finally.  _ But now that I have my memories back, I’m not afraid anymore. We have a very different view on death than you do. We see it as eternal life. _

 

_ Oh, _ Yuugi said. 

 

_ Would you like to hear about it? _

 

_ Yes, tell me.  _

 

And he did. 

 

\--

 

School was deceptively normal. Their homeroom teacher didn’t remark on their collective absences, their English teacher practically screamed at Jounouchi when he turned in his essay, and the gym teacher let Yuugi sit out on the second half of class. 

 

_ Do you want me to take over? _ Atem asked.  _ I think I could lose at tennis…  _

 

_ In my body? Definitely, _ Yuugi said.  _ But I think it’s better I don’t hurt myself. Maybe if we get desperate.  _

 

At lunch they played Rummy, and after school Old Maid, and then in the morning before their next class they played Go Fish. 

 

“There is something about Go Fish,” Ryou observed, “that makes losing it more humiliating than other games.”

 

“It’s because it’s for  _ children _ ,” Atem hissed in a rare show of frustration. 

 

The problem was, as Malik explained, that it wouldn’t work if Atem was not _ trying _ to win. Which meant he took even children’s games very seriously and destroyed them in all of them. 

 

“Maybe we shouldn’t be playing card games with you,” Anzu said, eyeing Atem critically. “Do you want to go to the arcade?”

 

Malik had been slinking around the Domino, on call in case the ring spirit showed up, and he met them at the arcade looking very bored. 

 

“This town isn’t very exciting,” he said. “I miss being a criminal mastermind.”

 

“Well, I mean,” answered Honda. “Okay?”

 

“C’mon,” Anzu sighed, waving for Atem to follow her into the back of the arcade. She led him to the Dance Dance Revolution machine and shrugged off her backpack. “I’m going to kick your butt,” she said bluntly. 

 

Atem’s mouth ticked up in a smile. “I’m sure you will,” he said. 

 

In fact, Atem was quite sure he was about to embarrass himself. He smiled affectionately at Anzu about his oncoming humiliation as she loaded coins into the machine. 

 

A fast, upbeat song started and Atem nodded to himself. Yes. This was way out of his league. He stepped onto the platform. This was a good a way to go as any. 

 

Still, he had to try. It was part of the rules. 

 

Anzu bounced to the beat next to him, and Atem prepared himself for death via DDR. 

 

It… didn’t come. He missed every single hit and still got every point. “EXCELLENT!” the machine cried again and again. “GOOD JOB! YOU’RE KILLING IT!”

 

Anzu stopped halfway through the song and watched, dumbfounded. Atem stopped as well, and Jounouchi yelled something in outrage about it all being rigged. 

 

“Uh, switch with me,” Anzu said. “Quick!”

 

The switched places. The screens switched technical ailments. 

 

“COME ON!” Anzu yelled and kicked the machine when the song was over. “That doesn’t even– it’s not even–”

 

“I’m sure it was just a fluke,” Atem said, voice carefully level. “And not supernatural forces preventing me from achieving my final rest.”

 

_ It’s okay, you can freak out, _ Yuugi reassured him.  _ We’ve all had a nervous breakdown in an arcade before.  _

 

Atem did not think that was strictly true. 

 

Some pre-teens had gathered around the machine and were whining about their turn, so the group withdrew to regroup and rethink their strategy. 

 

“So,” Jounouchi started, “clearly the machine is cursed–”

 

“If you ask me,” Ryou said, “being unable to  _ die properly _ should count as some sort of loss.”

 

The was a very awkward silence. 

 

“Oh good, you’re back,” Honda said. He turned and frowned at Malik. “I thought you were supposed to keep him under control.”

 

Bakura sneered at him. “What is  _ he _ going to do? He doesn’t even have his Millennium Rod anymore.”

 

Malik stared levelly at him for a beat, then reached out and grabbed his upper arm. “Right, okay, let’s get going.”

 

He started to drag him away form the group. Bakura sputtered and managed to wrestle his (well, Ryou’s) arm away.

 

“I haven’t even done anything!” he fumed. “It’s the pharaoh and his stupid friends who can’t even figure out a  _ game _ –”

 

Atem smirked at him. “It’s not like you’ve ever managed to kill me in a game,” he taunted. “I’m not sure it’s worth even asking you.”

 

Bakura let out a roar and lunged for him. “I’LL BEAT YOU IN THE GAME OF BEATING YOUR ASS!”

 

Anzu yelped and lept out of the way. Honda, Jounouchi, and Malik all watched in genuine shock for a few moments, letting the fight go for much longer than they should have. 

 

The thing was: Bakura and Atem were both using Ryou and Yuugi’s bodies. It was a fight between a soft-voiced nerd with uncooked spaghetti arms and the world’s tiniest goth. 

 

“HOW COULD YOU FAIL,” Bakura grunted as tried to get Ryou’s sad, skinny arms to hit Atem in any sort of meaningful way. “Now I’m stuck here too!”

 

Atem had Yuugi’s arms up to cover his face and occasionally making swiping motions at Bakura in hopes that some of the spikes on his leather wristbands might cut him. 

 

“You were harbinging the ultimate evil,” Atem hissed back and managed to grab a lock of Ryou’s hair. He pulled. “You desecrated my father’s grave and you deserve this.”

 

“ _ He _ deserved it–”

 

Jounouchi and Honda pulled them apart. 

 

“Okay, children,” Jounouchi lectured. “Time to put to your big boy pants and handle this like adults.”

 

He steered them both in the direction of the punch-o-meter. The moment Honda released Bakura, he punched it as hard as he could. 

 

With Ryou’s arms, he got a middling score. He narrowed his eyes at it like he was considering banishing it to the shadows. 

 

Atem spent a few minutes analyzing the machine before punching it. His efforts got him half a point higher. 

 

“Ha!” he mocked. Bakura scowled. 

 

“It’s not fair,” he muttered. “You’ll probably get a fancier afterlife than me, too.”

 

“It ain’t over til it’s over,” Jounouchi announced, ignoring the ring spirit. He drew his fist back and punched the machine as hard as he could.  

 

The stuffed outer layer of the machine spun and flew off, revealing a metal rod beneath. It recorded his score as a 0. 

 

“Huh,” said Jounouchi. Then he turned proudly and flexed his bicep at his friends. “Did ya see that?”

 

Bakura swore at him. Malik sighed. 

 

“Yeah, yeah, let’s leave them to it,” Malik said, putting a hand on a spitting-mad Bakura’s shoulder. “I told Ryou I’d show him how to make kofta.”

 

“You know how to cook?” Yuugi asked, having convinced Atem he needed to “take a break” (a sulking time out) in his soul room. 

 

“No,” said Malik and steered Bakura out of the arcade. 

 

Yuugi eventually let Atem back out and the pharaoh set a new record on all three Pacman machines, beat everyone twice at Mortal Kombat, and made a full grown man cry over a racing game. All in all, a disappointing experience. 

 

\--

 

They redoubled their efforts at school. There was a Duel Monsters club, where several members practically wept at the chance to beat The King of Games. None of them even came close. The mahjong club, with it’s three members, also failed to meet the challenge, and neither could the Go club. 

 

“Ugh,” whined the president. “We never lose! Last time this happened the kid was supposedly possessed by an ancient game master’s spirit.”

 

“Haha,” Yuugi laughed nervously. “Right. Sure.”

 

Even the English club tried to beat him at an online game where you filled in the lyrics to songs as they played. Atem won easily. Apparently his shakey understanding of the language had skyrocketed after so many international tournaments. 

 

Yuugi’s classmates noticed he’s suddenly gotten a lot more social with his gaming. Most of them knew him as a shy gaming nerd, but now he was suddenly a  _ famous _ gaming nerd, and everyone wanted to play him. 

 

“I’ve got a game,” Miho said brightly. “Amida-kuji! Buddha ladders!”

 

“Oh,” said Yuugi, who’d never really counted that as a game. Still, Miho was sweet, and he tagged out with Atem to let her try. 

 

“What should we be playing for?” Miho asked, setting up her ladders on paper. 

 

“Uh, why don’t you make it hard?” Atem said. “Only give me one option to win.”

 

Miho frowned slightly and he expected to argue with something like, “That doesn’t seem very fair.” Instead, she smiled and said, “Okay!”

 

Amida-kuji was a lottery-style game where a series of random lines connected two ends of the paper. One side consisted of the possible starting points, while the other had the “prizes.”

 

Miho hummed cheerfully as she drew the ladders, and the possible outcomes went like this: BUY MIHO BREAD - BUY MIHO ICE CREAM - BUY MIHO THAT CUTE CELL PHONE CHARM - BUY MIHO JUICE - YUUGI WINS!!

 

Atem picked the starting point at random. He won anyway. Miho pouted and went to see if someone else would play with her. 

 

Atem beat his classmates at every card game anyone could think of, at every handheld video game anyone could sneak into class, at every paper-and-pen game. He trounced people at paper football and Dots and Boxes and even a game of fruits basket the girls organized after school. One day, their homeroom teacher walked in on the class organizing a classroom-wide game of musical chairs. 

 

All he did was sigh deeply and start taking attendance. 

 

“At the suggestion of Fukumori-sensei, who’s noticed our recent hobbies,” their class representative announced the next day. “Your vice rep and I have decided our class’s activity in the school festival will be: carnival games!”

 

There were cheers. Yuugi’s head hit his desk. 

 

“We already did that!” someone yelled. No one cared. Unlike the previous years where they’d been limited to a single booth in the schoolyard, this year they were allowed the space of their entire classroom. Something about safety concerns after someone being burned alive two years ago (which Yuugi had  _ nothing to do with _ ). 

 

Regardless, as everyone had suddenly become extremely enthusiastic about games, the class readily accepted carnival games as their festival theme. 

 

“It’s odd to see you exhausted by games,” Ryou whispered to him as the class brainstormed ideas for games they could set up in their room. Jounouchi was very animatedly advocating a dunking booth. “Do you want to try something a little different?”

 

Yuugi, who’d slumped as far as he could into his seat, looked up as Ryou pulled something out of his desk just far enough that Yuugi could make out what it was. 

 

“A ouija board?”

 

Ryou smiled sweetly. “The spirit and I have been experimenting in occultist activities. He’s been much more agreeable without Zorc.”

 

Yuugi stared at him. That was… he wasn’t sure if that was good news or just alarming. 

 

“We’ve been working on an exorcism,” Ryou continued cheerfully. “It turns out the spirit wants to move on as much as your Pharaoh does.”

 

“Oh,” said Yuugi. He guessed that made sense. King Thief Bakura had, after all, a lot of people to see in the afterlife. Still, he didn’t trust him, especially not with… dark magic, or whatever “occultist activities” meant. “Malik’s still watching you, right?”

 

“I don’t know where Malik went,” Ryou said mildly, then pulled out his ouija board entirely to wave it in the air and volunteer to hold a seance for their carnival. 

 

Yuugi let his head fall back down on his desk. Great.  

 

\--

 

Malik had taken up running a gambling ring around the docks of Domino City. 

 

“WHY,” Yuugi yelled at him over the phone. 

 

“I was  _ bored,” _ Malik answered. “I don’t really know why you all think I can control Bakura, anyway.”

 

Seated on his couch and watching his friends set up Risk, Yuugi pinched the bridge of his nose. “Malik,” he said as sternly as he could. 

 

“I’m helping,” Malik said. “I’ll find you the best gambler and let the Pharaoh play him.”

 

“ _ Malik. _ ”

 

“What? I’ve actually shut down two people trying to start bets on animal fights. Really, I’m doing a good job over here. No need to tell Ishizu or anything.”

 

Yuugi groaned. Anzu looked up at him curiously. He shook his head at her. He’d explain after Atem conquered the fictional board game world and before he beat them all at Settlers of Katan for the fourth time that week. 

 

It was actually getting… and Yuugi thought he’d never think this about any game… sort of repetitive. 

 

“Could you at least, you know,” Yuugi said, “check in on Ryou every once in a while?”

 

“Ryou snaps me photos of his weird exorcism thing every night,” Malik said reassuringly. “If I ever get suspicious they’ve actually opened the door to the other side, I’ll run right over and chuck the puzzle in for you.”

 

He hung up. That was… not at all reassuring. 

 

_ At least he’s trying? _ Atem hedged. 

 

_ I don’t know why we all assumed he’d make a perfect moral one-eighty, _ Yuugi observed. 

 

“Why do I always get stuck on dumb Oceania?” Jounouchi moaned. 

 

Yuugi switched out with Atem. They were both oddly unexcited for the game. 

 

\--

 

Yuugi both lived in a game shop and held the title of “King of Games,” so his class volunteered him to provide materials for their carnival. The class rep announced this before consulting him.

 

“Um…” Yuugi said. 

 

Kaiba slammed his hands down on his desk and stood up. “This is unacceptable. Why would you accept anything as basic as board games?”

The class rep blinked at him. “Kaiba-san,” he squeaked, “I forgot you went to school here.”

 

Judging from the startled look on their homeroom teacher’s face, so had he.  

 

Kaiba sniffed. “I came in to take my exams and heard you dweebs were planning a  _ game carnival. _ Pathetic.”

 

Now that Kaiba was insulting all of them, every member of class 3B started to have memories of Kaiba randomly showing up to take his exams, turn in homework, and insult whoever happened to be in his presence at the time. It happened randomly throughout the semester and never took more than an hour. 

 

“We did… talk about… a dunking booth,” the class rep answered awkwardly. 

 

“Not good enough,” Kaiba sneered. “I won’t have something so mediocre associated with Kaiba Corp.”

 

“Uh…” said the class rep. 

 

“Did you fail to meet minimal attendance for the semester again, Kaiba-san?” the homeroom teacher asked tiredly. 

 

“...Yes,” Kaiba said. “Kaiba Corp will provide materials.”

 

He sat down. No one really knew what to say to that. 

 

No one needed to think of what to say to that, though, as Otogi Ryuuji took that moment to slam open the door to classroom. 

 

“Hey, 3B,” he said, tossing his hair over his shoulder. Behind him were several other members of 3A, come to oggle over his shoulder at them. “We heard you were also doing carnival games.”

 

The class rep straightened his glasses. “Oh yeah, I heard 3A was also doing games. How redundant.”

 

“You may have the money,” Otogi said, jabbing his thumb at Kaiba, “but  _ we’ve _ got the ideas. We’ll see how your silly dunking booth fairs against my…” He paused, looked several female students in the eyes, and winked. “Kissing booth.”

 

There were squeals. Otogi blew a kiss and let the door slam closed. 

 

There was a very long silence, broken only by the giggling of several students. 

 

“We’re going to have to knock down the wall between us and 3C,” Kaiba said darkly, “and take their space over.”

 

“Uh– no–” Fukumori-sensei said, and then the whole classroom burst into yells. 

 

“He’s so charming everyone’s going to want to kiss him!” Miho cried. “And  _ no one _ in our class is kissable!”

 

“ _ I’m _ kissable!” Jounouchi yelled and someone yelled back, “You’re only good for the dunking booth!”

 

“Girls!” Someone cried. “We’ll get scantily clad girls to–”

 

Yuugi dove to stop Anzu from hitting their perverted classmate. The teacher picked up the eraser and banged it on the chalkboard. It had very little effect. 

 

\--

 

_ Kissing booths aren’t even games, _ Yuugi whined to Atem as he walked home. 

 

_ I’m sure the universe would find a way to make me win at one though,  _ Atem answered dully. 

 

Yuugi bit his lip. He was starting to feel really worried for Atem.  _ Are you… uh. So lately I’ve been thinking games aren’t as fun…. do you… feel that way too? _

 

Atem sighed. _ More or less,  _ he thought back. _ I thought maybe something new… that Pretty Pretty Princess game was novel. It was almost fun. _

 

_ But, _ Atem continued, _ It is true circumstances are causing me to lose enthusiasm for gaming. _

 

_ Maybe…  _ Yuugi hesitated.  _ Do you want to go see Ryou? _

 

Atem agreed. Yuugi changed course and headed for Ryou’s home. Their friend had just arrived home when Yuugi rang the doorbell, and when he opened the door he was still holding his school bag.   

 

“Yuugi, welcome,” Ryou greeted, gesturing him inside. “Do you want– um– tea?”

 

Ryou set out a plate of senbei and busied himself making tea, and Yuugi looked around his cramped apartment. Ryou had three sets for his favorite RPG carefully stored against one wall, with thick-walled plastic boxes filled with game pieces stacked up next to them. 

 

On the table in front of Yuugi, where Ryou had set the rice crackers, were piles and piles of notes on… creepy stuff. The sheet of paper under the plate was a print-off from a website about raising the dead. 

 

_ That’s the exact opposite of what we’re trying to do, _ Atem observed. 

 

“So, uh,” Yuugi said when Ryou finally pushed a cup of tea into his hands and sat down with him. “Atem and I have gotten sort of tired of the whole gaming thing.”

 

Ryou nodded sympathetically. “It’s not as fun when you’re playing to break apart friendships.”

 

Yuugi had not thought of it that way at all. This is what Atem  _ wanted.  _ But at the same time, he’d gotten into gaming as way to spend time with friends, and obsessing over winning and losing had shifted the goal away from friendly camaraderie. 

 

Not that things like “win or your legs get chopped off” or “win or never see your grandpa again” were very friendship-oriented. 

 

“Anyway,” Yuugi continued, “Atem and I were wondering if you got that exorcism working.”

 

Ryou frowned and exchanged glances… with thin air. Was that what Yuugi looked like when he talked to  _ his _ spirit?

 

“We think it needs to be done on the Pharaoh,” Ryou said slowly. 

 

“Oh,” said Yuugi. Atem poked him mentally. “Well, what’s the worst that could happen?”

 

Ryou broke into two verbal arguments with Bakura while setting the exorcism up, which was very weird to watch because Yuugi could not actually see the ring spirit. Ryou took out several candles and unfurled butcher paper on which he’d pre-drawn a pentagram that Yuugi really hoped wasn’t painted in blood. 

 

“I have to do the first part,” the person before him announced in a slightly rougher voice than usual, and Yuugi realized Ryou had switched with his own spirit. “Hold my hands.”

 

Bakura held out his hands, palms up, over the pentagram and candles Ryou had lit. Yuugi stared down at the hands dubiously. 

 

There a lot of reasons why he didn’t want to hold King Thief Bakura’s hands. 

 

_ I’ll do it,  _ Atem volunteered, then took control of Yuugi’s body and grabbed Bakura’s hands, glaring fiercely at him. 

 

Bakura snorted. “There’s no need to be dramatic about it.”

 

Then he very dramatically summoned a swirl of purple shadows and darkness around them, so that the room melted away into oppressive blackness and the only source of light was the glow of the candles. 

 

“This is a shadow game,” Atem accused. 

 

“It’s an  _ exorcism, _ ” Ryou stressed, flickering into metaphysical reality besides Bakura. To Atem’s left, Yuugi appeared as well. “It’s just– well– this is the only type of verifiable magic we have access to.”

 

Ryou did the next part, which was a lot of Latin chanting. Bakura crossed his arms and glared at both of them. Then Ryou had both Atem and Bakura write their names on pieces of paper and burn them one of the candles. 

 

Yuugi watched the papers disappear into ash. Atem leaned in ever so slightly. Ryou chanted one last phrase in Latin and then… 

 

Nothing. 

 

“...is there another step?” Yuugi asked. 

 

“No,” Ryou answered, picking a book off the table and flipping through it. It had a drawing of a goat head on the dark cover. He snapped the book closed and frowned at Bakura. 

 

“Are you doubting your desire to open the door?” he asked. 

 

“What? No!” Bakura protested. “You think I wanted to be a disembodied spirit tormented by Zorc for thousands of years? I’m ready to go back to Kul Elna.” He shoved an accusing finger under Atem’s nose. “I bet  _ his royal highness _ is the one blocking it.”

 

“I am  _ not _ ,” Atem scowled back. “Maybe you’re just not as in tune with your magic as you think–”

 

They started bickering. It was petty. Ryou consulted a different book. 

 

“I think maybe we need an effigy,” Ryou finally said. He pulled one of his plastic boxes out from under the table and pulled out tiny gaming pieces of Atem and Bakura. They looked horrifyingly familiar. 

 

“Did you  _ save those from RPG Ancient Egypt? _ ” Yuugi asked, aghast. 

 

“They were really well made,” Ryou defended. “Now recite the book of the dead and burn them.”

 

Atem gave Bakura slightly bewildered look, which immediately collapsed into a glower at the sight of Bakura’s smirk. 

 

They followed Ryou’s instructions, though, watching their playing pieces slowly melt over the candles. 

 

When the last piece of plastic dripped away, there was a deep rumble that Yuugi could feel all the way from the carpeted floor up through his chest. Something stirred in the shadows, slowly taking shape, something large and door-shaped. Yuugi grabbed for Atem, to say his last goodbyes, but then–

 

“Is that Dark Door?”

 

Atem blinked at the door, incredulous. Yuugi loosened his grip on his partner’s shoulder. It was… a door. A door that was opened to a very familiar looking wall of vibrant green energy. 

 

“Oh no,” Ryou muttered. A silhouette staggered from somewhere the door and Bakura rolled his eyes exaggeratedly. 

 

“Excellent,” the thief quipped, “we summoned a magic card.”

 

“At least it’s a door?” Yuugi tried.

 

“I guess we should close it before that guy gets out,” Ryou sighed. 

 

Bakura made a big show of rolling his eyes some more before banishing the shadows all together. 

 

“Obviously you don’t have your exorcism together,” he told Ryou as Ryou’s metaphysical shape slowly faded. 

 

“You  _ agreed _ with me,” Ryou spluttered. 

 

“This is terrible,” Bakura announced, getting to his feet. “You’re all terrible. I’m ending this right now. Pharaoh, grab a character sheet.”

 

Bakura knelt to pull out one of Ryou’s elaborate RPG sets. Atem shot back a pithy comment about old dogs never learning new tricks but still shuffled through the mess of papers on the table for a character sheet. 

 

Yuugi wished he and Ryou didn’t have to sublet their bodies to grouchy spirits. It would be more fun if all four of them could play together. Well, it would be more fun if he and Ryou could play with Atem, at least. 

 

Since all four of them could exist at once in the shadows, Yuugi was just about to suggest a shadow game where the punishment was something like “get tickled by Kuriboh” instead of “be slowly erased from reality” when someone kicked in the door to Ryou’s apartment.

 

Bakura dropped the piece of the board he was holding. “What—“

 

“Yuugi Mutou,” a stern man in a suit said ominously. He was very big and had an even bigger and sterner man in a suit with him. “You have an appointment with Master Kaiba.”

 

“I don’t—“ Atem started at the same time Bakura yelled, “Hey!”

 

The very big, very stern man did not care. In less than a minute Atem was manhandled into a limo while Bakura chased after them, shaking his fist and yelling. The stern men ignored him, and Atem was whisked away almost entirely against his own will.

 

\--

 

Atem spent the car ride tapping his foot with annoyance and complaining inside his head to Yuugi. 

 

_ He never asks first _ , Atem ranted.  _ He knows I’ll say yes but he just kidnaps us anyway. What if we were already playing a different game? This is so rude. _

 

Yuugi had some other concerns— like about the legality of breaking door a down and forcing someone into a vehicle— but Atem had never seemed very concerned with that sort of thing. 

 

The stern men did not say a word to them, not that Atem asked any questions, but at some point it became obvious they were heading to Kaiba Land. 

 

At the gates to the amusement park, the smaller of the two big, stern men opened the limo door, shoved Atem out, and then abandoned him.

 

The gate creaked open forebodingly. 

 

Atem sighed.  _ Well, better go see what Kaiba wants.  _

 

It was afterhours and the park was mostly empty, save a few employees packing up shop. A woman at the information booth leaned out waved at them. Atem approached. 

 

“Kaiba-sama left this for you,” the woman said, and handed him an envelope. Atem ripped it open. 

 

_ Yuugi, _

 

_ In order to find me, solve these riddles three.  _

 

_ Are you kidding me? _ Yuugi whined.  _ Let’s just go to the most dramatic place for him to meet us. You know he’s going to be there.  _

 

_ Now, Yuugi,  _ Atem soothed,  _ this is all just part of the game.  _

 

_ WHAT game?! _

 

Atem followed the riddles though. The first one took him into the security observation room, where the person in charge of monitoring all the camera screens was mysteriously absent. From there, Atem was able to spot the answer to riddle number two, which was on a menu board in the food court. He ordered a burger there, which came with fries. One of the fries was plastic and inside was a mathematical formula. 

 

“Of course,” Atem said. “The Dueling Dragons!”

 

The Dueling Dragons were a pair of roller coasters, both shaped like Blue Eyes White Dragon. The two coasters intertwined, zooming past and twisting around each other.  They were in the dead center of the park, on top of a hill, and could be seen from kilometers outside the park. 

 

It was, indeed, the most dramatic place Kaiba could have been waiting. 

 

He was of course standing not on the platform to board the roller coasters, but at a maintenance platform at the highest point. When Atem approached, Kaiba lept from the platform and used his handy jetpack to slow his fall.

 

“Pharaoh,” he greeted.

 

“Kaiba,” Atem replied. “What is this about?”

 

Kaiba withdrew his Duel Monsters deck from its holster and held it above his head. “I heard you were looking to lose pathetically at something!”

 

“Ha!” Atem cried. “I’ve beat you at Duel Monsters countless times.”

 

“Not like this!” Kaiba cried, and the ride’s lights lit up. The eyes of the two dragon carts glowed. “This is…. ROLLER COAST DUELING.”

 

Atem was shaking from excitement. 

 

_ Please just get a room, _ Yuugi pleaded. 

 

They both boarded their respective roller coaster carts. Above the safety bar was a display for their cards. It was a regular duel… but they were doing it at high speeds…. and could only attack when passing each other. 

 

Atem was _ living. _

 

Which was really the problem, as he very much wanted to be dead. But this– this was finally a fun game. Kaiba was ridiculous as ever, the rules didn’t make any sense, he wasn’t sure how his cards were staying in place, and he might fall to his death at any moment. 

 

It was perfect. 

 

He almost cried when he won. 

 

“We can try again tomorrow,” Kaiba growled. 

 

“No, no, it’s okay…” Atem sighed. His hair was in a complete mess. “You tried your best.”

 

Kaiba looked wholly offended. 

 

“But,” Atem continued, smiling and offering his hand, “I will thank you. With friends like you, it might not be so bad living forever after all.”

 

Kaiba’s lip pulled up in a sneer. “We’re not friends, Pharaoh.”

 

He shook his hand anyway. 

 

Meanwhile, Bakura was squatting on the grassy hill beneath the roller coasters. 

 

_ This is bad, _ he thought.  _ If the Pharaoh doesn’t open the door, I might be stuck here forever. _

 

_ You know Yuugi doesn’t mind if we watch him, right? _ Ryou asked. 

 

_ Shhh.  _

 

\--

 

Their classroom felt a lot smaller now, with all the desks squished together to make room for the carnival games they were setting up. True to his word, Kaiba sent in several high-tech games: a virtual reality machine, holographic board games, and a laser-powered dunking booth. The class unanimously voted Jounouchi for dunk-ee.

 

After two days of Kaiba Corp employees setting up specialized equipment, some of the other classes complained and the students had to do it themselves. 

 

Kaiba did not actually come to class. Mokuba showed up one day with a holographic Capsule Monsters board for them and said that the older brother was too busy crafting a new, better deck to come to class. 

 

“He does this basically every time he loses,” Mokuba said, dumping the board on someone’s desk. “He’s been dueling holo-Pharaoh nonstop for days. Let me show you how this thing works.”

 

The Capsule Monsters Holographic Board was a proto-type and not actually on the market. The Class Rep examined it from every angle and then threw his head back and cackled. “Beat that, Class 3A!”

 

Honda had just been over to Class 3A that morning. He claimed it was a reconnaissance mission, but everyone knew he couldn’t go more than a week without picking a verbal fight with Otogi. (“Are they in love with my sister or each other?” Jounouchi mumbled.) According to Honda, Class 3A had a Kissing Booth, a love fortune test by that creepy Kokurano guy, and were gossipping about adding a speed dating activity.

 

“They have the sex factor,” the Class Rep whispered conspiratorial. 

 

“They also have a pool for one of those fish-catching games,” Honda said. 

 

“Sex and fish,” The Class Rep whispered. 

 

Ryou had his own booth, where he had set up his ouija board and tarot deck. In the middle of biology, Jounouchi screamed and declared the board had told him to “go wash his ass.” No one was quite sure what this meant. 

 

Days blurred together, between classes and the school festival and playing games as much as possible and several furious emails from Ishizu about letting Malik run a gambling circuit. Yuugi left late from school everyday, either because of being challenged to new games or because he was helping with the carnival. This is how he ended up taking a shortcut through a dark alley late in the evening. 

 

“You,” a voice hissed, and then suddenly Yuugi was being shoved up against a wall. Atem eased him out of his body and grabbed the wrists of their assailant. 

 

It was Bakura. 

 

“What do you want  _ this _ time?” Atem growled. 

 

“For you to  _ die _ ,” Bakura snapped back and let go of Atem and backed away. 

 

Ironically, Bakura’s goals had not changed at all, but at least he was on their side now. 

 

Malik was leaning casually against the wall at the mouth of the alley, a small child by his side. The kid was probably seven or eight with pink overalls and pigtails. 

 

“...who is she,” Atem asked dully. 

 

“This,” Bakura smirked evilly, “is Momoko-chan.”

 

Atem turned to Malik. “Did you let him kidnap a child?”

 

Malik shrugged. “I really don’t know what you guys expected me to do.”

 

“Momoko-chan would like to play a game with you,” Bakura said, wind dramatically blowing Ryou’s hair behind him. 

 

“You can’t just  _ kidnap _ a  _ child _ ,” Atem protested. “I refuse to play with someone against their will.”

 

Bakura glanced briefly at the girl. “She came of her own accord.”

 

“Bakura-san’s gonna make me dinner!”

 

_ Oh my god, _ Yuugi thought at Atem.  _ Even when he’s own our side he’s the worst person we know.  _

 

“Momoko-chan would like to play…” he trailed off then turned to the young girl. “What did you call it?”

 

“Pretty princess dragon raid!”

 

“Pretty princess dragon raid.”

 

Bakura was grinning maniacally at them, as wild and evil as he ever was. Momoko waved her arms in excitement and Malik examined his nails. 

 

“Well…” Atem said. “How do you… play…. pretty princess dragon raid?”

 

“We’re pretty princesses!” Momoko shrieked, waving her arms at Atem now. “And we have to steal from the dragons!”

 

Atem smiled warmly at her. As pharaoh, he knew how to behave royally and the game should be easy. 

 

“What are we stealing?” he asked. 

 

“Treasure!”

 

“And who are the dragons?” Atem eyed Bakura and Malik thoughtfully, but Malik rolled his eyes and the corners of Bakura’s mouth turned up in even more maniacal glee. 

 

“They’re imaginary, silly,” Momoko said, eyes wide. “Ready?”

 

“I was born ready.”

 

First, Momoko indicated that the ‘treasure’ was things they could find in the dumpsters lining the alley. Atem grimaced as he picked through the refuse, but nevertheless he had to try his hardest, and he wasn’t about to disappoint as young an opponent as Momoko. 

 

(He pointedly ignored Bakura’s cackling. Malik kicked him and told him to shut up at one point, but it did little good.)

 

Atem’s treasures at the end of round one were as follows: a pretty cookie tin, a cheap necklace whose chain had snapped, a pair of only somewhat beat-up shoes, a plastic toy train that must have been tossed on accident, and by some miracle of god, a still-ticking watch. 

 

Momoko looked at his treasures, which were clearly cleaner and nicer than the pile of candy wrappers she’s gathered, and declared:

 

“No! The dragon put it’s treasures under a spell to make them look like trash. So I still have more.”

 

Atem stared down at his pile of nice garbage. He had worked hard for it and lost. Was this what it was like to play him?

 

Wait! He’d just lost! Did that mean–

 

“I’ll give you another try,” Momoko said, nodding to herself. “Now you know what the spell looks like!”

 

Truly, Atem thought, Bakura had stumbled upon a genius plot. Children’s logic was notoriously difficult to defeat. 

 

Atem spent another twenty minutes gathering candy wrappers. Momoko tried for about three minutes, then wandered over to Bakura. 

 

“I’m hungry,” she said. “Snack?”

 

“After you beat the playmate I found for you,” Bakura promised. 

 

Tears welled in Momoko’s eyes. “You always have snacks.”

 

“Why would I–” Bakura started, a sneering hitching in his voice. 

 

“Ryou put some in his pockets,” Malik said. 

 

Bewildered, Bakura produced a package of cookies shaped like animals from his pocket. Momoko screamed with delight and yanked it out of his hands. 

 

When she was finished, Atem had an armful of wrappers. He was pretty positive there were no more wrappers in any of the available dumpsters. He smirked down at her. 

 

“Looks like I’ve got a few more than you,” he said. 

 

Momoko eyes his pile critically. “Nope,” she finally said. “I’ve got the golden egg.”

 

She held up the wrapper from the cookies. 

 

“Um,” said Atem. 

 

“Yes,” Bakura cried. “Good job. The golden egg. That makes her the win–”

 

“That means we have to hatch it,” Momoko decided, ignoring Bakura. 

 

“Or,” Bakura stressed, “it could mean you  _ win _ –”

 

“We have to walk it,” Momoko said, her voice getting faster with excitement. “Like Pokemon Go! Bakura-san, do you have a phone? I want to play–”

 

“You want to play this game,” Bakura said, turning her around and pointing her toward the opening of the ally. “Your mom wants you to get fresh air. Go. Walk. Hatch the egg. Make the Pharaoh  _ weep _ .”

 

Atem and Malik followed them. “Does Momoko-chan… know him?” Atem asked hesitantly. 

 

“Ryou babysits her sometimes,” Malik said. “I don’t think she’s ever actually met the thief before, though.”

 

After they’d walked several blocks, Momoko sat down on the curb and refused to move.

 

“I don’t want this stupid thing anymore!” she yelled and threw the wrapper down.

 

“Does that mean it’s hatched?” Bakura asked. 

 

“Is the game over?” Atem asked hopefully. He smelled like garbage and would like to get home for a shower. 

 

“No!” screamed Momoko. “If you won’t let me play with your phone, I want to keep playing with the funny-haired guy!”

 

Then she laid down and started to cry. 

 

“Ah… there, there,” Atem said when it became clear Bakura and Malik were only going to stand there and watch her in confusion. He squatted and reached to pat her head. 

 

“TAG!!” Momoko yelled, and slapped him across the face. Atem was so stunned he couldn’t even react properly. “I tricked you!” the girl sang, jumping up and running to hide behind Bakura. “We were playing tag all along and you’re it!”

 

Then she ran. 

 

“MOMOKO-CHAN!” Ryou yelled, and it was obviously Ryou. He ran after her. 

 

“Um,” said Atem.

 

“Your game’s still on,” Malik said, shoving his hands in his pockets. “Unless you want to come find some fast food with me?”

 

That… seemed like more fun. Still, Atem was obligated to this game. He ran after them. 

 

Momoko was not very fast, and Atem tagged her three times as she raced back to her and Ryou’s apartment block. None of those tags counted, however, because she “hadn’t felt them.”

 

Children’s logic would be the death of him. Hopefully. 

 

When they reached Ryou’s apartment, Momoko ran in and slammed the door behind her. 

 

“SAFE,” she screamed, and there was the distinct click of the lock.

 

Ryou sighed. “Don’t worry,” he whispered to Atem. “Of course I’ve got my keys.”

 

He didn’t, because Bakura hadn’t thought to bring them. 

 

“Well then pick the lock,” Ryou said to the air next to him. After a pause he said, “Do you want the Pharaoh to lose or for Momoko-chan to have an accident in my kitche–  _ that’s not funny _ .”

 

Ryou had to call the apartment manager and leave a voicemail. 

 

“Bakura-san?” Momoko asked through the door in a tiny voice. “I’m still hungry.”

 

“If you unlock the door,” Ryou said kindly, “I can heat up the leftovers your mom gave–” Suddenly, Bakura cut him off. “But first you must declare yourself the undisputed winner!”

 

“Oh,” said Momoko, unlocking the door. “I’m bored with that now.”

 

She opened the door and blinked innocently up at them. Bakura turned and walked down the hall to yell several swears at someone else’s door. Momoko watched him curiously for a few moments before turning to Atem.

 

“Can you help with the microwave?” she asked. “Bakura-san is acting weird.”

 

“Sure,” Atem said, ruffled her hair fondly. Then he leaned over and whispered, “Tag.”

 

Momoko blinked, then burst into tears. “I WANTED TO WIN! I  _ NEVER _ WIN TAG!”

 

Momoko’s mother came home before they managed to heat up dinner. Momoko was still wailing, Ryou was fired from being her babysitter, and Atem was still part of the world of the living. 

 

He trudged home himself, since making Yuugi do it seemed cruel. It was late, he still had hours of homework to do, he was exhausted, and he smelled like garbage. 

 

He really should have gone to get a burger with Malik.

 

\--

 

Yuugi stayed up until almost four o’clock in the morning on his homework. He wasn’t even sure how he made it through school the next day. When he finally got home, he barely had twenty minutes to relax before Anzu walked into Kame Games. She, Jounouchi and Honda had taken to coming over to Kame Game shop after school for a friendly afternoon of “try to kill Atem with games.” 

 

Sometimes they even did homework. 

 

(Sometimes Anzu made them play the games entirely in English, since with any luck she’d be in New York next year.)

 

“Are you okay?” Anzu asked when she saw him. She was carrying a tray of coffees from Burger World.

 

“I ran into Bakura last night,” Yuugi said. He could practically feel the bags under his eyes sagging down his face. “He made me play… you know what, I don’t even really want to talk about it.”

 

Anzu clicked her tongue in sympathy. She then stealthily texted Jounouchi that Yuugi was having an extra bad day and that he should bring something to cheer him up. She had expected him to bring Shizuka over, or Duel Monsters booster packs, or even some snacks. Instead, he brought booze. 

 

_ At least it’s not dirty magazines again, _ Anzu told herself as Jounouchi unloaded bottles onto the table. 

 

“I clear out my old man’s stash every now and then anyway,” he said proudly.

 

“Umm, thanks,” Yuugi said, uncapping one of the bottles and sniffing it. Yup, alcohol. 

 

“I figure,” Jounouchi continued, now helping Honda unload generic brand sodas onto Yuugi’s living room table, “You’ve been having a really rough time, yeah? Nothing’s been going well and we can all see it’s exhausted you.”

 

This… was true. Very true. 

 

“Existentially exhausted,” Anzu agrees, nodding along. 

 

“So I think,” Jounouchi went on, “we should just have fun today, and then tomorrow at the festival–”

 

“The festival is tomorrow?!” Yuugi squeaked and nearly spilled the bottle on himself. 

 

“Yeah– geez, Yuugi, Bakura must have done something really awful,” Anzu said. 

 

Yuugi wanted to scream. Instead, he took a bottle shot. Unfortunately, he was so naive to alcohol he had never even heard the term ‘bottle shot,’ and he ended up choking on it. 

 

“You guys,” Honda said, a grin spreading over his face as Anzu hit Yuugi’s back. “Yuugi can’t drink.  _ You know what that means? _ ”

 

It meant games, obviously. Drinking games. 

 

Yuugi couldn’t remember most of them the next morning, but Atem was still in his head, so he must have won all of them. It was very disappointing. 

 

Also, hangovers  _ sucked. _

 

\--

 

Yuugi showed up to the school carnival wildly hungover. Judging form the bleary-eyed look on his friends’ faces, so had they.

 

“Hey guys, what’s wrong?” Except for Ryou, who had had been too busy troubleshooting his exorcism to get screaming drunk with them. 

 

“Getting stuck in the card graveyard was more fun than this,” Honda whined. Anzu nodded solemnly. 

 

They set up for the carnival, and Yuugi felt like his whole world was moving in slow motion. He didn’t have his own booth, so he drifted between them, helping Jounouchi into the dunking booth and telling him not to vomit into the water, helping Anzu hook up Just Dance, and trying to ignore how cheerful Ryou was in the face of his pounding headache. 

 

“I can’t believe Kaiba put me in charge of his virtual reality helmet,” Ryou said, picking up said piece of equipment and slipping it over his eyes to test. “I set it to the virtual haunted house, but do you think it would be better to run the zombie chase program?”

 

At Ryou’s elbow, the pointer for the Ouija board started to move. Yuugi watched it dully. 

 

“...because, you know, zombies are very fashionable right now, but you’re not actually supposed to RUN in these…”

 

The pointer carefully spelled out: CHOKE AND DIE, PHARAOH. 

 

“Is,” Yuugi started, interrupting Ryou’d ramble, “Thief Bakura the one who’s been insulting everyone?”

 

“Oh,” said Ryou, looking down at where Atem was now spelling out MAYBE IF YOU WERE BETTER AT WINNIN--

 

The pointer flipped into the air and clattered to the floor. Yuugi watched as Atem’s ghost form grabbed it and tried to wrestle it out of whatever invisible hands were holding it. 

 

“Is your spirit trying to pry the pointer away from my spirit?” Ryou asked. 

 

“Uh-huh. I’m going to go see if Honda needs help.”

 

“Right.”

 

Honda did in fact need help, because Shizuka had followed Otogi back on Instagram and Honda needed to be held back from physically fighting him. 

 

The first guests to the carnival were other students, trickling in from their own classrooms. Yuugi had to stop three or four underclassmen from breaking equipment, and one of them ended up staring at him in awe while another asked for his autograph. 

 

“I’m not that famous,” Yuugi complained to Anzu. 

 

Anzu, having tried to dance several times with a killer hangover, was staring at her feet while Miho tried to help two juniors with the dance game. 

 

“The only people coming in here are gaming nerds,” Anzu explained hoarsely. “Do you think you could get me a bottle of water?”

 

Classroom 2B was a cafe for the carnival, and Yuugi bought a bottle of water off of them. After he delivered it to Anzu, he wandered over to classroom 3A. The banner over it read IN THE GAME OF LOVE. 

 

“Yuugi!” Otogi cried when he walked in. “Betraying your classmates already?”

 

“Uh…” Yuugi said. The bright pink and red decorations were not helping with his hangover. “Actually I wanted to try… a new game…?”

 

Otogi smiled helpfully at him. “Well, our most popular activity is the kissing both. We cater to all genders.”

 

“No,” Yuugi said. “You can’t win at kissing.”

 

“...right,” Otogi said with the tone of someone who definitely didn’t want to hear more on that topic. “How about Speed Dating? We’re hosting that on the hour.”

 

“No,” said Yuugi. “There’s no winner.”

 

They went on like that for a few minutes, and Yuugi rapidly concluded Otogi’s carnival games were all stupid because there was no way to win any of them. 

 

“That’s not really the point of the games, you do realize,” Otogi said impatiently. 

 

“Otogi!” someone called, “They want you back at the Bachelor Booth!”

 

Otogi left, telling Yuugi he really should try some of the games, even if there was no winner. And Yuugi… sort of wanted to. 

 

But he also wanted to help his friend Atem, who was very worried about haunting a puzzle for all eternity, and that meant finding a game he could  _ win. _

 

He want back to class 3B. There were new players coming in, and he might be able to find one skilled enough to best him. 

 

By mid-morning the flow of student visitors calmed down and the Class Rep assured them it would all pick up again at noon when family and friends would come visit for their lunch breaks. 

 

It did not pick up. 

 

“CLASS 3A,” the Class Rep howled and ran over to scream at Otogi. 

 

The thing was, Class 3A was also experiencing a downswing in festival goers. So was the cafe in class 2B, which by all accounts should have had lots of people, seeing as how they had free samples of food. 

 

In fact, when Otogi and the Class Rep thought to count their own classmates, several people were missing. 

 

“Look!” Miho cried, pointing out the window. “Someone went rogue!!”

 

There was a series of tables set up outside in the lawn, between the entrance of the school building and the gates where they’d hung the DOMINO HIGH SCHOOL FESTIVAL banner. People packed around the tables, pushing excitedly at each other. 

 

“Foreign exchange students?” someone wondered. “No, the woman looks too old…”

 

“Oh no,” Ryou gasped, and Yuugi pushed his way through to look out the window. 

 

Malik was running the tables below, assisted by, for whatever baffling reason, Kujaku Mai. 

 

A man cheered and Mai smiled sweetly at him and pushed poker chips in his direction. They were playing blackjack. For real money. 

 

“They’ve strategically placed their tables to pull in carnival goers before they see anything else,” the Class Rep said thoughtfully. Then he opened a window. “I bet I can hit them with the fish from 3A.”

 

“No!!” Someone cried and pulled him back. Yuugi turned and raced out of the school. 

 

“MALIK!!” he cried, elbowing his way through the crowd. 

 

“Hey Yuugi,” Malik greeted. “I found my champion gambler to play your other self. Did you know Mai used to be a professional card dealer?”

 

“Yuugi!” Mai waved cheerfully. “I didn’t know you played anything other than Duel Monsters. Pull up a chair.”

 

The crowd had mysterious parted around her table. She was already dealing him in. 

 

_ Might as well, _ Atem reasoned.  _ We haven’t seen Mai in a while.  _

 

With a groan, Yuugi surrendered control of his body and sat back to watch Atem play Black Jack. 

 

He won, of course. Mai didn’t seem perturbed. She called in other players to see if they could “beat the king.” The pot grew and grew. 

 

Then suddenly a vaguely staticy voice called, “MALIK! ISHTAR!”

 

Anzu was standing at the edge of the crowd, one hand on her hip and the other holding her cellphone in the air. Ishizu was on facetime. 

 

“Oh boy,” Malik said, and signalled for his helpers to start packing up. 

 

“But our winnings!” someone cried. 

 

“It’s a high school event,” Malik shot back. “Did you really think there’d be real money involved?”

 

There were protests, but Ishizu’s stern face was terrifying even through the tiny screen of Anzu’s cellphone, and eventually everyone cleared out. 

 

They cleared out of the school, that was, and very few of them actually made it to the carnival. It was late afternoon and they’d had barely any outside visitors. 

 

“I heard that you and your little duelist buddies ruined our festival,” a girl on the tennis team sneered. Yuugi just stared back at her. 

 

“So what if we did?” he asked, too tired and achy and hungover to care. 

 

“Well,” she sniffed, “then I think we might need to play a game of…. sudden death.”

 

It was basically tennis but with knives stabbed into the tarmac at various places. If you lost your footing, you cut yourself. Apparently not one single person in Yuugi’s high school could do anything normally. 

 

_ Seems about par for the course,  _ Yuugi observed as Atem eyed the knives.  _ Do you still want to do this? _

 

Atem went along with it. He’d never played tennis before, but he had the great idea of pulling one of the knives out and cutting the tennis ball such that it curved the way he wanted to. Yuugi personally thought this seemed like bullshit (and their opponent agreed), but it worked out before their very eyes. 

 

“I have been cursed by the Gods,” Atem said forlornly. “All I can do is win. Not a blessing, but a curse.”

 

“Uh,” said the tennis player, “Okay?”

 

They was a clattering of footsteps from inside the school, and the captain of the basketball team burst out of the sidedoor onto the field, followed by the rest of his team. 

 

“I HEARD THAT NERD MUTOU WANTS TO BE SCHOOLED,” the captain bellowed. 

 

Atem sighed heavily, took the basketball from his hands, and tossed it casually over his shoulder. It landed perfectly in the tiny trash can on the other side of the court. 

 

“I never thought I’d say this,” he told the captain, “but I… don’t want to play.”

 

“Uh,” the captain said. 

 

“I quit,” Atem said. “I give up. It’s not fun anymore.”

 

He turned and left. 

 

_ Could you at least pick up my homework? _ Yuugi asked. 

 

He went back into the school and gathered Yuugi’s things. Then he left. 

 

\--

 

Atem spent the next few days moping in his soul room, which had condensed down into a single room since he’d regained his memories. It was still stone-walled and ancient-looking, but like Yuugi’s, it was now filled with games.

 

When Yuugi walked in to see what was up, Atem was listlessly sticking pins in a board of holes. 

 

“It’s called Hounds and Jackals,” Atem explained. “It’s more fun with another person.”

 

He stared at the board, dead in the eyes. 

 

“Er,” said Yuugi. “Do you want me to play…?”

 

Atem explained the rules to him, and playing seemed to perk him up a bit. That was, until he won. He sighed deeply. 

 

“We can play another game!” Yuugi offered. He glanced desperately around the room for something else. There were a lot of ancient games he didn’t recognize, with pieces carved from animal bones and clay. There were also some modern games, and he grabbed Monopoly. 

 

“No one’s ever beaten me at this,” he said. 

 

“We both know monopoly is a terrible game,” Atem deadpanned. 

 

This was true. Yuugi usually won because other people gave up after a couple hours. 

 

“Then maybe… Uno…?”

 

Atem shook his head. “I know you’re frustrated by this too,” he said. “Maybe we can just talk?”

 

“Yeah,” said Yuugi. “Yeah.”

 

He’d never had very many heart-to-hearts with his Other Self. It was nice to just chat about silly stuff with him, instead of how they were going to get out of whatever new mess they’d stumbled into. 

 

“You have school tomorrow, don’t you?” Atem asked finally.

 

“Yeah…” Yuugi sighed. “Oh, I have to finish that math set. Well, I guess you’ll still be here.”

 

He went back to reality, where he had probably looked like he’d just been sitting at his desk and spacing out for several hours. His mother had come in and placed a tray of food containing his dinner in front of him at some point. Oops. 

 

(She’d tried to take him to the hospital once before, but his grandfather had convinced her zoning out for long periods of time was just “a teenager thing.”)

 

Just talking to Atem had been really fun, loads more fun than sifting through garbage or playing knife tennis. He wished he and his friends could bring back  _ fun _ games for Atem. 

 

Yuugi finished his homework, but a plan was forming in the back of his mind. 

 

\--

 

Yuugi stayed extra late to help clean up the carnival games. In fact, he was so generous in his volunteering he and the Class Rep were the last to leave school. 

 

When he got home, all his friends were sitting in his living room. Anzu, Honda, and Jounouchi were crowded onto the couch with Ryou and Otogi, Malik was casually reclining in the one armchair, and even Kaiba was standing in a corner and glaring. 

 

_ Is that what you were texting Anzu about? _ Atem asked, because it was very difficult to plan surprises for someone who lived in your head. 

 

_ Yep! _ Yuugi replied, then shoved Atem to the forefront of his mind. 

 

“...hello,” Atem greeted. He was still awkward about people recognizing him as a separate entity from Yuugi.

 

...not as awkward as Bakura, though, who took over Ryou just long enough to flip him off. 

 

“Atem,” Anzu said, sitting up primly and pronouncing his name very carefully. “We have decided to team up against you.”

 

“Um,” said Atem, because they’d already tried that and it didn’t work. 

 

“All of us,” she continued, “in order to–”

 

“–roast the everloving shit out of you, dickward,” Bakura finished with a snarl. Then Ryou was back, looking highly embarrassed. 

 

“Yeah, yeah,” Jounouchi said, then leaned forward and slammed the last remaining bottle of booze they had down on the table. “We’re playing Never Have I Ever.”

 

Atem had to be run through the rules quickly: someone said “never have I ever…” and something they’d never done. Anyone who had done it had to drink. Ten drinks, and you lost. 

 

“I’ll start,” Jounouchi said, twisting the cap off the bottle and pouring it into one of the glasses from the Mutou kitchen. “Never have I ever set a guy on fire.”

 

He shoved the glass at Atem. A drop sloshed over the side and dribbled over his fingers. 

 

“I was going to say that one,” Anzu whined. 

 

Atem accepted the glass and took a tentative sip. “Is it part of the rules to drink this much straight?”

 

“What, you don’t like it neat?” Malik asked, leaning over to pour himself a drink. He took a sizable swig. Worrisome. “Who’d you set on fire?”

 

“Last time we did carnival games at the school festival--” Jounouchi started. 

 

Anzu paused in filling glasses with ice. “I thought you meant that guy who kidnapped me at Burger World.”

 

“Nah, I was thinking about how those okonomiyaki guys wanted our space--”

 

“Why did Other Yuugi set  _ multiple people on fire _ ?” Otogi demanded. “Why didn’t anyone warn me?”

 

Anzu, Jounouchi and Honda exchanged glances. 

 

“Freshmen year was very stressful,” Honda said solemnly, then held out a drink for Otogi. 

 

“I know!” Anzu said, clapping her hands. “Never have I ever collapsed a roof with a yo-yo. Or– no– never I have I ever electrocuted a bunch of gangers.”

 

“Stressful, huh,” Malik said, then settled back in his seat while Atem spluttered. 

 

“I was stuck with my soul in literal pieces for three thousand years, of course I was a little maladjusted– and this all seems  _ very specific _ –”

 

“DRINK,” his friends chorused back at him. 

 

He did. 

 

“If we’re being specific,” Otogi said, swirling his drink. “Never have I ever tried to kill someone with a card game.”

 

“That’s not specific at all,” Kaiba sneered, taking a sip of his own drink. Honda elbowed Ryou and told him to make his roommate drink as well. Malik smirked and took his own drink.

 

“It’s an ancient tradition,” Bakura declared, then knocked back at least three shots of whiskey at once. 

 

“You could make it specific,” Anzu suggested. “Are you talking about knocking Kaiba off a castle? Killing a child on a train?”

 

Atem stared into his drink. When you put it that way, it did seem a little… over the top…

 

_ I like winning, _ he whined to Yuugi.  _ And you not dying.  _

 

_ Shh, I know, _ Yuugi soothed.  _ Take a sip and embrace your demise.  _

 

Atem did. “That’s three,” he announced. “What else have you got for me?”

 

Everyone started talking at once. After some arguing and Ryou having to duck Jounouchi hurling a cushion at Kaiba, Kaiba loudly said, “Never have I ever allowed a stranger lay a hand on my best cards like a moron.”

 

“Uh… what?” Honda asked. 

 

“ _ Someone’s _ bitter,” Anzu muttered. 

 

“First,” Kaiba fumed, “you gave up your Blue Eyes–”

 

“To  _ you _ !”

 

“–and then you let that little nerd have  _ Exodia _ .”

 

“Is that why you tried to kill him on a train?” Ryou asked innocently. It might have been Bakura. Either way, Atem took a sip. 

 

_ I think that was technically me? _ Yuugi said. 

 

_ It was less clear back then.  _

 

“I got one!” Honda yelled, slapping his hand down on the table before everyone could start talking again. “Never have I just made up rules on the spot.”

 

“I would never,” Atem protested.

 

“ATTACK THE MOON,” Jounouchi crowed at the same time Anzu called, in a mockingly deep voice, “Destroy its flotation ring.”

 

“Kuriboh,” Kaiba hissed from his corner. 

 

“Okay,” Atem admitted, bitterly raising his cup to his lips, “ _ Fine _ .”

 

“That’s five,” Anzu said. Then she turned to Ryou. “Your turn.”

 

“Umm,” Ryou said, shifting in place. “Never have I ever cheated and then said it wasn’t cheating.”

 

“I don’t cheat,” Atem said, very seriously. 

 

“There’s  _ two _ of you,” Kaiba snarled. 

 

“You ever notice how he can always draw the exact right card?” Otogi asked, squinting at Atem. 

 

“It’s not cheating if the other person is using an ancient cursed artefact–” Atem spluttered.

 

“It kinda is, dude,” Jounouchi said solemnly. “Take a drink.”

 

“Actually,” Ryou said as Atem pouted and took a sip, “I was thinking of how you copied the thief’s special dice rolls.” 

 

“He cheated first,” Atem said, very mature. 

 

“I don’t think two people cheating cancels out,” Anzu said thoughtfully. 

 

_ Well, it  _ **_should_ ** , Atem whined to Yuugi. 

 

“Malik, it’s your turn,” Ryou said. 

 

“Hmm,” Malik said, then looked around the room. It was very obvious he was sizing them all up. “Never have I ever…” He paused dramatically, looking each one of them in the eye with an evil glint, “worn a school uniform.”

 

Everyone groaned and took a drink. 

 

“That’s just mean,” Jounouchi muttered. “Do Atem and Ryou have to drink twice?”

 

Bakura obviously agreed, because suddenly Ryou’ds glass was completely empty. He slammed it down on the coffee table and stood dramatically. 

 

“Well then, I guess it’s  **my** turn,” He said, smirking at Atem. Malik raised his eyebrows, unimpressed, and Anzu let out a very loud sigh. “Never have I ever… been a little bitch.”

 

“Wow,” said Malik. “First of all, untrue.”

 

“Fine,” Bakura snapped back at him. “Never have I ever been a little bitch about  _ the sins of my father _ .”

 

Atem sighed and took a sip. That was… that was fair. Not the best wording, but a fair complaint. He could admit that even if Bakura was the world’s biggest, most dramatic asshole. 

 

“...screw you,” Kaiba muttered and took a drink from his own cup. 

 

“That’s…” Honda counted on his fingers, “eight. We need two more.”

 

Conveniently, Sugoroku walked into the room with a plate of snacks. “Hope you like things spicy,” he said. 

 

“Hey, Gramps,” Jounouchi, leaning forward and grabbing a handful of chips. “Do you know how to play Never Have I Ever?”

 

“Oh sure,” said Sugoroku. “Let’s see. Never have I ever almost died in a card game.”

 

“...yes, you have,” Atem corrected. 

 

“Oh yeah,” Sugoroku said. “Hmm. Never have I ever eaten a pear.”

 

There was a long silence. 

 

“Excuse me?” Anzy tried. “You’ve never eaten a  _ pear _ ?”

 

“I just never got around to it,” Sugoroku said, as if that explained anything, and left the room, leaving behind several stunned teenagers and two speechless spirits.

 

“Did he really just say that?” Otogi asked. “Did that really just happen?”

 

“Everyone drink,” Malik announced. “Even I’ve had pears, and I lived underground for half my life. If anyone doesn’t drink anything, I’m calling bullshit.” Then he said, “Ryou, you have to drink twice.”

 

“Why?”

 

“For the thief.”

 

“I don’t get double tolerance just because I’m sharing a body–”

 

They bickered quietly and Jounouchi asked, “What other fruits has he never had? Peaches?”

 

“No,” answered Anzu, “he’s served us peaches before, remember?”

 

“That doesn’t mean he’s eaten one, though.”

 

The entire room burst into conversation. Bakura had pulled Malik into a headlock, Jounouchi said something that made Anzu spit out her drink, and Kaiba looked incredibly pained as Otogi described something to him using lots of hand motions. 

 

_ This is nice, _ Atem thought to Yuugi.  _ This is what playing games should always be like. _

 

_ Yeah, _ Yuugi agreed. _ Hey, it’s my turn.  _

 

Atem surrendered control, and Yuugi sat there for a while, just listening to his friends. He wanted to remember this forever. 

 

He had to do what needed to be done, though, and he cleared his throat. Three years ago, everyone would have ignored him. Now, it only took a few minutes for everyone to quiet down. 

 

“Three years ago,” he started, “I made a wish for friends that I could play games with every day. I didn’t really think anything would come of it. Now, I have lots of friends to hang out with and play games with.”

 

Anzu, Jounouchi and Honda were beaming at him. Kaiba shifted awkwardly, looking simultaneously pleased and disgusted. 

 

“And I have one person to thank for that. So, that being said…” Yuugi took a deep breath. “Never have I ever granted a wish.”

 

There was a long silence as Yuugi switched with Atem. Atem stared down at his cup.

 

_ Yuugi, I…  _

 

_ It’s okay, _ Yuugi thought back.  _ I just realized why we’re together, is all. You don’t have to say anything.  _

 

Atem took a deep breath, and drank. 

 

It was a very surreal experience, dying a second time. Atem was briefly disoriented, suddenly out of Yuugi’s body and looking right back at him. All eyes were on him, so obviously everyone  _ else  _ could see him. 

 

The living room was washed out with light. The equal and opposite of a shadow game. 

 

Bakura stood next to Ryou, looking highly confused for about three seconds. Then he scowled and snapped, “Finally. Gods almighty.”

 

The stone tablet reared up before them, swinging back on an axle to open like a door.  

 

“I…” Atem started, words caught in his throat. “I guess this is goodbye.”

 

“Yeah,” Bakura agreed. “Goodbye forever, assholes.” 

 

Then he punched Ryou lightly in the shoulder, flipped Malik off, and sauntered through the door.

 

“Aw,” said Malik. “I’ll miss that murdery bastard.”

 

“...right,” said Anzu, then rushed forward to hug Atem. “We’ll miss you.”

 

Tentatively, Atem hugged back. Jounouchi pounded him on the back. “Yeah, have fun being the king of the afterlife or whatever dead Pharaohs do.” 

 

The rest have similar sentiments— Honda fist bumped him, and Otogi and Ryou and Malik shook his hand. Kaiba mumbled something like, “We’ll duel each other again someday.”

 

Finally, Yuugi raised his hand like he was also going to shake Atem’s hand, then thought better of it and went for a hug.

 

“Thank you for everything,” Yuugi said. “You really were my first friend.”

 

Atem gave him one last squeeze and said, “And you were a great friend as well. I’m proud of you.”

 

He turned to the rest of the group. “All of you too, I’m glad my last moments were surrounded by friends.”

 

He half expected someone to say, “ew, Gross.” No one did. Jounouchi was obviously fighting back tears. 

 

With one last goodbye, Atem turned toward the door and walked through. 

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Some links to explanations of games mentioned:
> 
> - **Amida-kuji:** [wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_Leg), [tofugopedia](https://www.tofugu.com/japan/amidakuji/) (more pictures/a video)  
>  - **Go:** [wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_\(game\)); the "ancient game master" is a reference to [Hikaru no Go](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hikaru_no_Go), about a boy who learns about Go from the ghost of a game master. ;)  
>  - **Dots and Boxes:** This was really common when I was a kid but I'm pretty sure it has a lot of different names. From [this site when you can play online](https://www.math.ucla.edu/~tom/Games/dots&boxes.html): "Players take turns joining two horizontally or vertically adjacent dots by a line. A player that completes the fourth side of a square (a box) colors that box and must play again. When all boxes have been colored, the game ends and the player who has colored more boxes wins."  
>  - **Fruits Basket:** [explanation](https://www.thegamegal.com/2011/04/30/fruit-basket-game/); sort of like "church on fire" but with fruit instead of personal traits  
>  - **Hounds and Jackals:** [wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hounds_and_Jackals); an ancient Egyptian game  
>  - **Capsule Monsters:** the game Mokuba makes his first appearance with in the manga :)  
>  - **Dark Door:** a magic card. [Here's a link to the wiki page about it.](http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/The_Dark_Door)
> 
> **Additionally, sunny/[etct](http://etct.tumblr.com/) did some super funny/cute fanart. [Check it out!](http://etct.tumblr.com/post/177463567093/getting-sketchy-with-scenes-from-this-nice-fic)
> 
> Anyway! Thank you for reading. If you liked it, please feel free to leave a comment. :)


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